Job description

About Us At Cloudflare, we are on a mission to help build a better Internet. Today the company runs one of the world’s largest networks that powers millions of websites and other Internet properties for customers ranging from individual bloggers to SMBs to Fortune 500 companies. Cloudflare protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Internet properties powered by Cloudflare all have web traffic routed through its intelligent global network, which gets smarter with every request. As a result, they see significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks. Cloudflare was named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Company Cultures list and ranked among the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company. At Cloudflare, we’re not looking for people who wait for a polished roadmap; we’re looking for the builders who see the cracks in the Internet that everyone else has simply learned to live with. We value candidates who have the instinct to spot a "normalized" problem and the AI-native curiosity to create a solution using the latest tools. Our culture is built on iteration, leveraging AI to ship faster today to make it better tomorrow, while ensuring that every improvement, no matter how small, is shared across the team to lift everyone up. If you’re the type of person who values curiosity over bureaucracy, and that AI is a partner in solving tough problems to keep the Internet moving forward, you’ll fit right in. Available Locations: Lisbon, or London (Hybrid) About the Department Emerging Technologies & Incubation (ETI) is where new and bold products are built and released within Cloudflare. Rather than being constrained by the structures which make Cloudflare a hugely successful business, we are able to leverage them to deliver entirely new tools and products to our customers. Cloudflare’s edge and network make it possible to solve problems at massive scale and efficiency which would be impossible for almost any other organization. About the Team We build the infrastructure that makes the web Payable , powering the future of machine-to-machine commerce. Here at Cloudflare, agentic commerce is a core part of our vision for the Agentic Internet . As AI agents increasingly navigate, consume, and act on the web, standard payment and authorization models built for humans are breaking down. We build tools that make the new internet payable by giving our users the ability to monetize access to their content, data, services, products, and outcomes across the Internet, regardless of where they are hosted. Building these capabilities requires solving complex engineering problems across high-throughput web infrastructure, low-latency transaction processing, usage metering, outcome verification, digital wallets, and emerging agentic payment protocols (such as x402, WBA, ACP, and UCP). We bridge mainstream fiat commerce rails with decentralized protocols, enabling micro-payments at Internet scale. We are a tight-knit group that communicates and collaborates regularly. We celebrate our achievements, support each other when we make mistakes, and hold each other and our work to a high standard. About the Role We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to serve as an expert and technical leader on our Agentic Commerce team. In this role, you will define the architecture, build core systems, and establish technical standards powering machine-to-machine payments, metering, and monetization across Cloudflare's network. As a Senior Engineer, your impact extends beyond individual features. You will shape product and engineering roadmaps by partnering directly with customers, product managers, and across Cloudflare teams. You will write architectural specs that guide engineers inside and outside the team, build systems that reduce complexity for others, and lead complex incident responses. You will be a prime reviewer for large systems, define core product KPIs, and mentor engineers across the organization to elevate our collective engineering practice. What You'll Do Design and build resilient, low-latency systems and core architectures that make web resources Payable for autonomous agents using emerging protocols (x402, WBA, ACP, UCP). Write technical specs (RFCs) and architecture designs that encompass deliverables for developers both within the team and across other Cloudflare engineering groups. Meet directly with customers and Product Management to clarify requirements, define actionable KPIs, and translate business needs into scalable architectural solutions. Architect services to reduce code complexity for the team, ensure seamless recovery from internal and external failures, and improve overall system health observability. Lead complex incident responses, retrospectives, and root-cause analyses while driving initiatives that proactively prevent customer escalations and reduce system alerts. Debug and resolve high-complexity issues spanning multiple teams, services, and protocols, using these opportunities to teach others how to handle similar challenges. Actively mentor engineers, improve engineering and interviewing processes, conduct high-impact spec and code reviews, and share knowledge through technical talks and writings. Examples of Desirable Skills, Knowledge, and Experience Deep software engineering and distributed systems expertise with a track record of architecting, building, and operating high-throughput, low-latency production services. Broad experience with HTTP, API design, payment protocols/rails, web security, and cryptographic authorization mechanisms. Demonstrated experience defining product KPIs and translating complex customer and product requirements into clear architectural roadmaps. Proven track record of debugging complex distributed system failures that span multiple teams and systems, with a focus on systemic remediation. Strong history of technical mentorship, leading incident retrospectives, and driving process improvements inside and outside your immediate team. Ability to rapidly prototype, evaluate deep architectural trade-offs, and establish design patterns in an emerging technical domain. Excellent technical writing and communication skills, with experience drafting RFCs and specifications consumed by multiple engineering organizations. Bonus Points Fluency in Rust (especially async Rust) or TypeScript/JavaScript edge runtimes (e.g., Cloudflare Workers, Durable Objects, KV) at system-architectural scale. Deep knowledge of emerging agentic payment protocols (x402, A2P, ACP, UCP, Web Bot Auth) or digital wallet architectures. Experience architecting high-precision event metering pipelines, usage-based billing engines, outcome verification systems, or revenue attribution tools. Experience with smart contract bridges, cryptography (public-key encryption, signatures, hashes), or hybrid fiat/crypto payment infrastructure. Active contributions to open-source payment systems, agent protocols, web standards, or distributed systems projects. Experience training interviewers, closing candidates, or guiding company-wide technical standards. Compensation Compensation may be adjusted depending on work location. ● For Portugal based hires: Estimated annual salary is between €66,000 - €91,000. The final offer will be inclusive of time exemption, in alignment with the applicable law and collective bargaining agreements. Equity This role is eligible to participate in Cloudflare’s equity plan. What Makes Cloudflare Special? We’re not just a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company. We’re a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company with a soul. Fundamental to our mission to help build a better Internet is protecting the free and open Internet. Project Galileo : Since 2014, we've equipped more than 2,400 journalism and civil society organizations in 111 countries with powerful tools to defend themselves against attacks that would otherwise censor their work, technology already used by Cloudflare’s enterprise customers--at no cost. Athenian Project : In 2017, we created the Athenian Project to ensure that state and local governments have the highest level of protection and reliability for free, so that their constituents have access to election information and voter registration. Since the project, we've provided services to more than 425 local government election websites in 33 states. 1.1.1.1 : We released 1.1.1.1 to help fix the foundation of the Internet by building a faster, more secure and privacy-centric public DNS resolver. This is available publicly for everyone to use - it is the first consumer-focused service Cloudflare has ever released. Here’s the deal - we don’t store client IP addresses never, ever. We will continue to abide by our privacy commitment and ensure that no user data is sold to advertisers or used to target consumers. Sound like something you’d like to be a part of? We’d love to hear from you! Please note that applicants who progress to the offer stage of the interview process may be asked to attend an in-person interview within one of the Cloudflare Offices or Cloudflare Hubs. More details about this will be available at that stage of the interview process. This position may require access to information protected under U.S. export control laws, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations. Please note that any offer of employment may be conditioned on your authorization to receive software or technology controlled under these U.S. export laws without sponsorship for an export license. Cloudflare is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people and place great value in both diversity and inclusiveness. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to their, or any other person's, perceived or actual race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or any other basis protected by law. We are an AA/Veterans/Disabled Employer. Cloudflare provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job. Examples of reasonable accommodations include, but are not limited to, changing the application process, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment. If you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job, please contact us via e-mail at hr@cloudflare.com or via mail at 101 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94107.

Requirements

Must-haves

Design and build resilient, low-latency systems and core architectures that make web resources Payable for autonomous agents using emerging protocols (x402, WBA, ACP, UCP).
Write technical specs (RFCs) and architecture designs that encompass deliverables for developers both within the team and across other Cloudflare engineering groups.
Meet directly with customers and Product Management to clarify requirements, define actionable KPIs, and translate business needs into scalable architectural solutions.
Architect services to reduce code complexity for the team, ensure seamless recovery from internal and external failures, and improve overall system health observability.
Lead complex incident responses, retrospectives, and root-cause analyses while driving initiatives that proactively prevent customer escalations and reduce system alerts.
Debug and resolve high-complexity issues spanning multiple teams, services, and protocols, using these opportunities to teach others how to handle similar challenges.
Actively mentor engineers, improve engineering and interviewing processes, conduct high-impact spec and code reviews, and share knowledge through technical talks and writings.
Examples of Desirable Skills, Knowledge, and Experience
Deep software engineering and distributed systems expertise with a track record of architecting, building, and operating high-throughput, low-latency production services.
Broad experience with HTTP, API design, payment protocols/rails, web security, and cryptographic authorization mechanisms.
Demonstrated experience defining product KPIs and translating complex customer and product requirements into clear architectural roadmaps.
Proven track record of debugging complex distributed system failures that span multiple teams and systems, with a focus on systemic remediation.
Strong history of technical mentorship, leading incident retrospectives, and driving process improvements inside and outside your immediate team.
Ability to rapidly prototype, evaluate deep architectural trade-offs, and establish design patterns in an emerging technical domain.
Excellent technical writing and communication skills, with experience drafting RFCs and specifications consumed by multiple engineering organizations.

Nice-to-haves

Fluency in Rust (especially async Rust) or TypeScript/JavaScript edge runtimes (e.g., Cloudflare Workers, Durable Objects, KV) at system-architectural scale.
Deep knowledge of emerging agentic payment protocols (x402, A2P, ACP, UCP, Web Bot Auth) or digital wallet architectures.
Experience architecting high-precision event metering pipelines, usage-based billing engines, outcome verification systems, or revenue attribution tools.
Experience with smart contract bridges, cryptography (public-key encryption, signatures, hashes), or hybrid fiat/crypto payment infrastructure.
Active contributions to open-source payment systems, agent protocols, web standards, or distributed systems projects.
Experience training interviewers, closing candidates, or guiding company-wide technical standards.

Application prep

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Keywords to mirror

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